-r/*-' 


THE  ADDRESS 


OF   TIIK 


PEOPLE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA 


ASSEMBLED  IN  CONVENTION, 


TO    THK 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  SLAVEHOLDING  STATES 


OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


PKINTED   BY   ORDKR  OF   THE   CONVENTIOX. 


C^H  A  R  L  E  S  T  O  N  : 

EVANS  &.  roCiSWELL,  PRINTERS  TO  THE  CONVENTION, 

No.  3  Brond  and  103  East  Bay  Streets. 

ISGO. 


THE  ADDRESS 


PEOPLE  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA, 


ASSEMBLED  I\  CONVENTION, 


PEOPLE  OF  THE  SLAVEHOLDIKG  STATES 


OF  THE  LTXITED  STATES. 


PRINTKO    15Y   OKDER    OF    THE   CONVENTION. 


CHARLESTON: 

EVANS  &  COGSWELL,  PRINTERS  TO  THE  COXA'ENTION, 
No.  3  Broad  and  103  East  Bay  Street. 

18G0. 


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THE  ADDRESS  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  SOITTH 
CAROLmA,  ASSEMBLED  IX  C0^t\7-exTI0X, 
TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  SLAVEHOLDD^G 
STATES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


It  is  sevcnty-tliree  3-cars,  since  tlic  Union  between 
the  United  States  was  made  by  tlie  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  During  this  time,  their  advance  in  wealth, 
prosperity  and  power,  has  been  with  scarce!}-  a  parallel  in 
the  histor}'  of  the  world.  The  great  object  of  their  Union, 
was  defence  against  external  aggressions;  which  object  is 
now  attained,  from  their  mere  progress  in  power.  Tliirty- 
onc  millions  of  people,  with  a  commerce  and  navigation 
which  explore  every  sea,  and  with  agricultural  productions 
which  are  necessary  to  every  civilized  people,  conmiand  the 
'•friendship  of  the  world.  P)Ut  .unfortunately,  our  internal 
peace  has  not  grown  A\itli  our  external  prosperity.  Dis- 
content and  contention  have  moved  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Confederacy,  for  the  last  thirty -live  years.  During  this 
time,  South  Carolina  has  twice  called  her  people  together 
in  solemn  Convention,  to  take  into  consideration,  the  ag- 
gressions and  unconstitutional  wrongs,  [>erpetrated  by  the 
people  of  the  North  on  the  people  of  the  South.  These 
wrongs,  were  submitted  to  l)y  the  people  of  the  South, 
under  the  hope  and  expectation,  that  they  would  be  final. 
But  such  hope  and  expectation,  have  proved  to  be  vain. 
Instead  of  producing  forbearance,  our  acquiescence  has 
only  instigated  to  new  forms  of  aggressions  and  outrage; 


and  South  Carolina,  having  again  assembled  her  people  in 
Convention,  has  this  day  dissolved  her  connexion  with  the 
States,  constituting  the  United  States. 

The  one  great  evil,  from  which  all  other  evils  have  flow- 
ed, is  the  overthrow  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  Government  of  the  United  States,  is  no 
longer  the  Government  of  Confederated  Republics,  but  of 
a  consolidated  Democracy.  It  is  no  longer  a  free  Govern- 
ment, but  a  Despotism.  It  is,  in  feet,  such  a  Government 
as  Great  Britain  attempted  to  set  over  our  Fathers ;  and 
which  was  resisted  and  defeated  by  a  seven  years'  struggle 
for  independence. 

The  Kevolution  of  1776,  turned  upon  one  great  prin- 
ciple, self-government, — and  self-taxation,  the  criterion  of 
self-government.  Where  the  interests  of  two  people  united 
together  under  one  Government,  are  different,  each  must  have 
the  power  to  protect  its  interests  by  the  organization  of  the 
Government,  or  they  cannot  be  free.  The  interests  of  Great 
Britain  and  of  the  Colonies,  were  difi:erent  and  antagon- 
istic. Great  Britain  was  desirous  of  carrying  out  the  policy 
of  all  nations  towards  their  Colonies,  of  making  them 
tributary  to  her  wealth  and  power.  She  had  vast  and 
complicated  relations  with  the  whole  world.  Her  policy 
towards  her  ISTorth  American  Colonies,  was  to  identify 
them  w^ith  her  in  all  these  complicated  relations;  and  to 
make  them  bear,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  Empire, 
the  full  burden  of  her  obligations  and  necessities.  She 
had  a  vast  public  debt ;  she  had  an  European  policy  and  an 
Asiatic  policy,  which  had  occasioned  the  accumulation  of 
her  public  debt ;  and  which  kept  her  in  continual  w^ars. 
The  North  American  Colonies  saw  their  interests,  political 
and  commercial,  sacrificed  by  such  a  policy.  Their  interests 
required,  that  they  should  not  be  identified  with   the  bur- 


I 


dens  aud  wars  of  the  niotlier  country.  They  hud  been 
settled  under  Charters,  which  gave  them  self-government; 
at  least  so  far  as  their  property  Avas  concerned.  They  had 
taxed  themselves,  and  had  never  been  taxed  by  the  Govern- 
ment of  Great  Britain.  To  make  them  a  part  of  a  con- 
solidated Empire,  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  determ- 
ined to  assume  the  power  of  legislating  for  the  Colonies 
in  all  cases  whatsoever.  Onr  ancestors  resisted  the  preten- 
sion. They  refused  to  be  a  part  of  tlie  consolidated  G^iovern- 
nient  of  Great  Britain. 

The  Southern  States,  now  stand  exactly  in  the  same  posi- 
tion towards  the  Northern  States,  that  the  Colonies  did 
towards  Great  Britain.  The  Northern  States,  having  tlu' 
majority  in  Congress,  claim  the  same  power  of  omnipotence 
in  legislation  as  the  British  parliament.  "The  General 
^  Welfare,"  is  the  only  limit  to  the  legislation  of  either; 
aiid  the  majority  in  Congress,  as  in  the  British  parlia- 
ment, are  the  sole  judges  of  the  expediency  of  the  legis- 
lation, this  "  (U'lieral  Welfare"  requires.  Thus,  the  Govern- 
jnent  of  the  Ignited  States  has  become  a  consolidated 
Government;  and  the  people  of  the  Southern  States,  are 
compelled  to  meet  the  A^ery  despotism,  their  fiithers  threw 
off  in  the  Ilevolution  of  1776. 

The  consolidation  of  the  Government  of  Great  Britain 
over  the  Colonies,  was  attempted  to  be  carried  out  l)v  the 
taxes.  The  British  parliament  undertook  to  tax  the  Colo- 
nies, to  promote  British  interests.  Our  fathers,  resisted  this 
pretension.  They  claimed  the  right  of  self-taxation  throuqii 
their  Colorrail  Legislatures.  Thev  were  not  represented  in 
the  British  parliament,  and,  therefore,  could  not  rightly  be 
taxed  by  its  legislation.  The  British  Government,  how- 
ever, offered  them  a  representation  in  parliament  ;  but 
it  was  not  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  protect  themselves 


iroiii  the  majority,  and  thc}-  refused  the  offer.  Between 
taxation  without  any  representation,  and  taxation  Avitliout 
a  representation  adequate  to  protection,  there  was  no  dif- 
ference. In  neither  case  woukl  the  Colonies  tax  them- 
selves. Hence,  they  refused  to  pay  the  taxes  laid  by  the 
British  parliament. 

And  so  with  the  Southern  States,  towards  the  i^orthern 
States,  in  the  vital  matter  of  taxation.  They  are  in  a 
minority  in  Congress.  Their  representation  in  Congress, 
is  useless  to  protect  them  against  unjust  taxation  ;  and 
they  are  taxed  by  the  people  of  the  North  for  their 
benefit^  exactly  as  the  people  of  Great  Britain  taxed  our 
ancestors  in  the  British  parliament  for  their  benefit.  For 
the  last  forty  years,  the  taxes  laid  by  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States,  have  been  laid  with  a  view  of  sub- 
sei'ving  the  interests  of  the  ]!!Torth.  The  people  of  the 
South  have  been  taxed  by  duties  on  imports,  not  for  reve- 
nue, but  for  an  object  inconsistent  with  revenue — to  pro- 
mote, by  prohibitions,  iTorthern  interests  in  the  productions 
of  their  mines  and  manufactures. 

There  is  another  evil,  in  the  condition  of  the  Southern 
towards  the  Northern  States,  which  our  ancestors  refused 
to  bear  towards  Great  Britain.  Our  ancestors  not  only 
taxed  themselves,  but  all  the  taxes  collected  from  them, 
were  expended  amongst  them.  Had  they  submitted  to  the 
pretensions  of  the  British  Government,  the  taxes  collected 
from  them,  would  have  been  expended  in  other  parts  of 
the  British  Empire.  They  were  fully  aware  of  the  effect 
of  such  a  policy  in  impoverishing  the  people  from  whom 
taxes  are  collected,  and  in  enriching  those  who  receive  the 
benefit  of  their  expenditure.  To  prevent  the  evils  of  such 
a  policy,  was  one  of  the  motives  which  drove  them  on  to 
Revolution.    Yet  this  British  policy,  has  been  fully  realized 


towards  the  Southern  States,  by  the  ITortherii  States.  The 
people  of  the  Southern  States  are  not  only  taxed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Northern  States,  but  after  the  taxes  are  col- 
lected, three-fourths  of  them  are  expended  at  the  North. 
This  cause,  with  others,  connected  with  the  operation  of 
the  General  Government,  has  made  the  cities  of  the  South 
provincial.  Their  groAvth  is  paralyzed ;  they  are  mere 
suburbs  of  Northern  cities.  The  agricultural  productions 
of  the  South  are  the  basis  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the 
United  States;  yet  Southern  cities  do  not  carry  it  on. 
Our  foreign  trade,  is  almost  annihilated.  In  1740,  there 
were  five  ship  yards  in  South  Carolina,  to  build  ships  to 
carry  on  our  direct  trade  with  Europe.  Between  1740  and 
1779,  there  were  built  in  these  yards,  twenty-five  square 
rigged  vessels,  besides  a  great  number  of  sloops  and  schoon- 
ers, to  carry  on  our  coast  and  West  India  trade.  In  the 
half  century  immediately  preceding  the  Revolution,  from 
1725  to  1775,  the  population  of  South  Carolina,  increased 
seven-fold. 

No  man  can  for  a  moment  believe,  that  our  ancestors 
intended  to  establish  over  their  posterity,  exactly  the  same 
sort  of  Government  they  had  overthrown.  The  great 
object  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  in  its  inter- 
nal operation,  was,  doubtless,  to  secure  the  great  end  of 
the  Revolution — a  limited  free  Govefnment — a  Govern- 
ment limited  to  those  matters  only,  which  were  general  and 
common  to  all  portions  of  the  United  States.  All  sectional 
or  local  interests,  were  to  be  left  to  the  States.  By  no  other 
arrangement,  would  they  obtain  free  Government,  by  a 
Constitution  common  to  so  vast  a  Confederacy.  Yet  by 
gradual  and  steady  encroachments  on  the  part  of  the 
people  of  the  North,  and  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the 
South,  the  limitations  in  the  Constitution  have  been  swept 


8 

away;  and  the  Government  of  the  ITiiitcd  States  has  become 
consolidated,  with  a  chiim  of  limitless  powers  in  its  opera- 
tions. 

It  is  not  at  all  surprising,  such  being  the  character  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  that  it  should  assume 
to  possess  power  over  all  the  institutions  of  the  country. 
The  agitations  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  are  the  natu- 
ral results  of  the  consolidation  of  the  Government. 
Responsibility,  follows  power ;  and  if  the  people  of  the 
ISTprth,  have  the  power  by  Congress  "  to  promote  the  gene- 
ral welfare  of  the  United  States,"  by  any  means  they  deem 
expedient, — ^^vhy  should  they  not  assail  and  overthrow  the 
institution  of  shivery  in  the  South  ?  They  are  responsil)le 
for  its  continuance  or  existence,  in  proportion  to  their 
power.  A  majority  in  Congress,  according  to  their  inter- 
ested and  perverted  views,  is  omnipotent.  The  induce- 
ments to  act  upon  the  subject  of  slavery,  under  such  circum- 
stances, were  so  imperious,  as  to  amount  almost  to  a  moral 
necessity.  To  make,  however,  their  numerical  power 
available  to  rule  the  Union,  the  E'orth  must  consolidate 
their  power.  It  would  not  be  united,  on  any  matter  com- 
mon to  the  whole  Union — in  other  words,  on  an}^  constitu- 
tional subject — for  on  such  subjects  divisions  are  as  likely 
to  exist  in  the  IS'orth  as  in  the  South.  Slavery  was  strictly, 
a  sectional  interest.  If  this  could  be  made  the  criterion  of 
parties  at  the  ISTorth,  the  ISTorth  could  be  united  in  its 
power ;  and  thus  carry  out  its  measures  of  sectional  ambi- 
tion, encroachment  and  aggrandizement.  To  build  up 
their  sectional  predominance  in  the  Union,  the  Constitu- 
tion must  be  first  abolished  by  constructions  ;  but  that  being 
done,  the  consolidation  of  the  l!forth,  to  rule  the  South,  by 
the  tarift'  and  slavery  issues,  was  in  the  obvious  course  of 
things. 


9 

The  Constitutiou  of  the  United  States,  was  an  experi- 
ment. The  experiment  consisted,  in  nniting  under  one 
Government,  peoples  living  in  different  climates,  and  hav- 
ing different  pursuits  and  institutions.  It  matters  not,  how 
carefully  the  limitations  of  such  a  Government  he  laid 
down  in  the  Constitution, — its  success  must  at  least  depend, 
upon  the  good  faith  of  the  parties  to  the  constitutional 
compact,  in  enforcing  them.  It  is  not  in  the  power  of 
human  language,  to  exclude  false  inferences,  constructions 
and  perversions,  in  any  Constitution  ;  and  when  vast 
sectional  interests  arc  to  he  subserved,  involving  the  ap- 
propriation of  countless  millions  of  money,  it  has  not 
been  the  usual  experience  of  mankind,  that  woi-ds  on  parch- 
ments can  arrest  power.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
^States,  irrespective  of  the  intei-position  of  the  States,  rested 
on  the  assumption,  that  power  would  yield  to  faith, — that 
integrity  would  be  stronger  than  interest ;  and  that  thus,  the 
limitations  of  the  Constitution  would  be  observed.  The 
experiment,  has  been  fairly  made.  The  Southern  States, 
from  the  commencement  of  the  Government,  have  striven 
to  keep  it,  within  the  orbit  prescribed  by  the  Constitution. 
The  cxi:)eriment,  has  failed.  The  whole  Constitution,  by 
the  constructions  of  the  Northern  people,  lias  been  ab- 
sorbed by  its  preamble.  In  their  reckless  lust  for  power, 
they  seem  unable  to  comprehend  that  seeming  paradox — 
that  the  more  power  is  given  to  the  General  Government, 
the  weaker  it  becomes.  Its  strength,  consists  in  the  limita- 
tion of  its  agency  to  objects  of  common  interest  to  all 
sections.  To  extend  the  scope  of  its  power  over  sec- 
tional or  local  interests,  is  to  raise  up  against  it,  oppo- 
sition and  resistance.  In  all  such  nuittcrs,  the  General 
Government  must  necessarily  be  a  despotism,  because  all 
sectional  or  local  interests  must  ever  be  represented  l)y  a 


10 

minority  in  the  councils  of  tlie  General  Government — 
having  no  power  to  protect  itself  against  the  rule  of 
the  majority.  The  majority,  constituted  from  those  who 
do  not  represent  these  sectional  or  local  interests,  will 
control  and  govern  them.  A  free  people,  cannot  suhmitto 
such  a  Government.  And  the  more  it  enlarges  the  sphere 
of  its  power,  the  greater  must  he  the  dissatisfaction  it  must 
produce,  and  the  weaker  it  must  become.  On  the  con- 
trar}^,  the  more  it  abstains  from  usurped  powers,  and  the 
more  faithfully  it  adheres  to  the  limitations  of  the  Consti- 
tution, the  stronger  it  is  made.  The  I*^orthern  people  have 
had  neither  the  wisdom  nor  the  fiiith  to  perceive,  that  to 
observe  the  limitations  of  the  Constitution  was  the  onl}- 
way  to  its  perpetuity. 

Under  such  a  Government,  there  must,  of  course,  be 
many  and  endless  "irrepressible  conflicts,"  between  the 
two  great  sections  of  the  Union.  The  same  faithlessness 
which  has  abolished  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
will  not  fail  to  carry  out  the  sectional  purposes  for  which  it 
has  been  abolished.  There  must  be  conflict ;  and  the 
weaker  section  of  the  Union  can  only  find  peace  and  lib- 
erty, in  an  independence  of  the-  ISTorth.  The  repeated 
efforts  made  by  South  Carolina,  in  a  wise  conservatism,  to 
arrest  the  progress  of  the  General  Government  in  its  fatal 
progress  to  consolidation,  have  been  unsupported,  and  she 
has  been  denounced  as  faithless  to  the  obligations  of  the 
Constitution,  by  the  very  men  and  States,  wdio  were.. 
destroying  it  l\y  their  usurpations.  It  is  now  too  late,  to 
reform  or  restore  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 
All  confidence  in  the  ISTorth,  is  lost  by  the  South.  The 
faithlessness  of  the  North  for  a  half  century,  has  opened  a 
gulf  of  separation  between  the  ISTorth  and  the  South  which 
no  promises  nor  engagements  can  fi.ll. 


11 

It  cannot  be  believed,  tliat  our  ancestors  would  liave  as- 
sented to  any  Union  wliatever  with  tlie  people  of  the  oSTorth, 
if  the  feelings  and  opinions  now  existing  amongst  them, 
had  existed  when  the  Constitution  was  framed.  There  was 
then,  no  Tarifl:^ — no  fanaticism  concerning  negroes.  It  was 
the  delegates  from  i^cw  England,  who  proposed  in  the  Con- 
vention which  framed  the  Constitution,  to  the  delegates  from 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  that  if  they  would  agree  to  give 
Congress  the  power  of  regulating  commerce  hj  a  majority^ 
that  they  would  support  the  extension  of  the  African  Slave 
Trade  for  twenty  years.  African  slavery,  existed  in  all  the 
States,  but  one.  The  idea,  that  the  Southern  States  would 
be  made  to  pay  that  tribute  to  their  I^orthern  confederates, 
Avhicli  tliey  had  refused  to  pay  to  Great  Britain;  or  that  the 
institution  of  African  slavery,  would  be  mad^  the  grand 
basis  of  a  sectional  organization  of  the  J^orth  to  rule  the 
South,  never  crossed  the  imaginations  of  our  ancestors. 
The  Union  of  the  Constitution,  was  a  union  of  slaveholding 
States.  It  rests  on  slavery,  by  prescribing  a  Representation 
in  Congress,  for  three-lifths  of  our  slaves.  There  is  nothing 
in  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Con- 
stitution, to  shew,  that  the  Southern  States  Avould  have  form- 
ed any  other  Union ;  and  still  less,  that  thc}^  would  have  form- 
ed a  Union  with  more  ])owerful  non-slaveholding  States, 
having  majority  in  both  l)ranchcs  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
Government.  They  were  guilt}-  of  no  such  folly.  Time 
and  the  progress  of  things,  have  totally  altered  the  rehi- 
tions  between  the  jSTorthern  and  Southern  States,  since  the 
Union  was  established.  That  identity  of  feelings,  interests 
and  institutions,  which  once  existed,  is  gone.  They  are 
now  divided,  between  agricultural — and  manufacturing,  and 
commercial  States  ;  between  slaveholding,  and  non-slave- 
holding  States.     Their  institutions  and  industrial  pursuits. 


12 

have  made  tliem,  totally  dilFerent  peoples.  That  Equality 
in  the  Government  between  the  two  sections  of  the  Union 
which  once  existed,  no  longer  exists.  "We  hnt  imitate  the 
policy  of  our  fathers  in  dissolving  a  union  with  non-slave- 
holding  confederates,  and  seeking  a  confederation  with 
slaveholding  States. 

Experience  has  proved,  that  slaveholding  States  cannot 
be  safe,  in  subjection  to  non-slaveholding  States.  Indeed, 
no  people  can  ever  expect  to  preserve  its  rights  and  liber- 
ties, unless  these  be  in  its  ovv'n  custody.  To  plunder  and 
oppress,  where  plunder  and  oppression  can  be  practiced  with 
impunity,  seems  to  be  the  natural  order  of  things.  The  fair- 
est portions  of  the  world  elsewhere,  have  been  turned  into 
wildernesses:  and  the  most  civilized  and  prosperous  commu- 
nities, have  been  impoverished  and  ruined  by  anti-slavery 
fanaticism.  The  })eople  of  the  ISTorth  have  not  left  us  in 
doubt,  as  to  their  designs  and  policy.  United  as  a  section 
in  the  late  Presidential  election,  they  have  elected  as  the 
exponent  of  their  policj-,  one  who  has  openly  declared,  that 
all  the  States  of  the  United  States,  must  be  made  free  States 
or  slave  States.  It  is  true,  that  amongst  those  vdio  aided 
in  his  election,  there  are  various  shades  of  anti-slavery  hos- 
tility. But  if  African  slavery  in  the  Sonthern  States,  be 
the  evil  their  political  combination  affirms  it  to  be,  the  re- 
quisitions of  an  inexorable  logic,  must  lead  them  to  eman- 
cipation. If  it  is  right,  to  preclude  or  abolish  slavery 
in  a  Te^Titory, — why  should  it  be  allowed  to  remain  in 
the  States  ?  The  one  is  not  at  all  more  unconstitutional 
than  the  other,  according  to  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  And  when  it  is  considered, 
that  the  ISTorthern  States  will  soon  have  the  power  to  make 
that  Court  what  they  please,  and  that  the  Constitution 
never  has  been  anv  barrier  whatever  to    their  exercise  of. 


power — wliat  clicck  can  there  be,  in  the  unrestrained 
counsels  of  the  ISTorth,  to  emancipation  ?  There  is  sym- 
pathy* in  association,  which  carries  men  along  without 
principle  ;  hut  when  there  is  principle — and  that  prin- 
ciple is  fortified  hj  long-existing  prejudices  and  feelings, 
association  is  omnipotent  in  party  influences.  In  spite 
of  all  disclaimers  and  professions,  there  can  he  hut 
one  end  by  the  submission  of  the  South,  to  the  rule 
of  a  sectional  anti-slavery  government  at  Washington  ; 
and  that  end,  directh-  or  indirectly,  must  be — the  eman- 
cipation of  the  slaves  of  tbe  South.  The  hypocrisy  of 
thirty  years — the  faithlessness  of  their  whole  course 
from  the  commencement  of  our  union  with  them,  shew 
that  the  people  of  the  non-slaveholding  North,  are  not,  and 
cannot  be  safe  associates  of  the  slaveholding  South,  under 
a  common  Government,  i^ot  only  their  fanaticism,  but 
their  erroneous  views  of  the  principles  of  free  governments, 
render  it  doubtfnl  whether,  if  separated  from  the  South, 
they  can  maintain  a  free  government  amongst  them- 
selves. Numbers  with  them,  is  the  great  element  of  free 
government.  A  majority,  is  infallible  and  omnipotent. 
"The  right  divine  to  rule  in  kings,"  is  only  transferred  to 
their  majority.  The  very  object  of  all  Constitutions,  in 
free  popular  Government,  is  to  restrain  the  majority.  Con- 
stitutions, therefore,  according  to  their  theory,  must  be 
most  unrighteous  inventions,  restricting  liberty.  None 
ouglit  to  exist ;  but  the  body  politic  ought  simpl^^  to  have 
a  political  organization,  to  bring  out  and  enforce  the^will 
of  the  majority.  This  theory  may  be  harmless  in  a  small 
community,  having  identity  of  interests  and  pursuits;  but 
over  a  vast  State — still  more,  over  a  vast  Confederacy, 
having  various  and  conflicting  interests  and  pursuits,  it  is  a 
remorseless  despotism.   In  resisting  it,  as  applicable  to  our- 


14 

selves,  we  are  vindicating  the  great  cause  of  free  govern- 
ment, more  important,  perhaps,  to  the  world,  than  the 
existence  of  all  the  United  States.  Nor  in  resisting  it, -do  we 
intend  to  depart  from  the  safe  instrumentality,  the  system 
of  government  we  have  established  with  them,  requires. 
In  separating  from  them,  we  invade  no  rights — no  interest 
of  theirs.  'We  violate,  no  obligation  or  duty  to  them.  As 
separate,  independent  States  in  Convention,  we  made  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  with  them ;  and  as  sepa- 
rate independent  States,  each  State  acting  for  itself,  we 
adopted  it.  South  Carolina  acting  in  her  sovereign  capa- 
city, now  thinks  proper  to  secede  from  the  Union.  She 
did  not  part  with  her  Sovereignty,  in  adopting  the  Consti- 
tution. The  last  thing,  a  State  can  be  presumed  to  have 
surrendered,  is  her  Sovereignty.  Her  Sovereignty,  is  her 
life.  ITothing  but  a  clear  express  grant,  can  alienate  it. 
Inference  is  inadmissible.  Yet  it  is  not  at  all  surprising, 
that  those  who  have  construed  away  all  the  limitations 
of  the  Constitution,  should  also  by  construction,  claim  the 
annihilation  of  the  Sovereignty  of  the  States.  Having 
abolished  all  barriers  to  their  omnipotence,  by  their 
faithless  constructions  in  the  operations  of  the  General 
Government,  it  is  most  natural  that  they  should  endea- 
vour to  do  the  same  towards  us,  in  the  States.  The 
truth  is,  they,  having  violated  the  express  provisions  of 
the  Constitution,  it  is  at  an  end,  as  a  compact.  It  is 
morall}'  obligatory  only  on  those,  who  choose  to  accept 
its  perverted  terms.  South  Carolina,  deeming  the  com- 
pact not  only  violated  in  particular  features,  but  vir- 
tually abolished  by  her  Northern  confederates,  with- 
draws herself  as  a  party,  from  its  obligations.  The 
rigli^t  to  do  so,  is  denied  by  her  ]!^orthern  confederates. 
They  desire  to  establish  a  sectional  despotism,  not  only 
omnipotent  in  Congress,  but  omnipotent  over  the  States  ; 
and  as  if  to  manifest  the  imperious  necessity  of  our  seces- 
sion, they  threaten  us  with  the  sword,  to  coerce  submission 
to  their  rule. 

Citizens  of  the  slaveholding  States  of  the  United  States! 


15 

Circumstances  beyond  our  control,  have  placed  us  in  tlie 
van  of  the  great  controversy  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  States.  We  would  have  preferred,  that  other 
States  should  have  assumed  the  position  we  now  occupy. 
Indei)endent  ourselves,  we  disclaim  any  design  or  desire, 
to  lead  the  counsels  of  the  other  Southern  States.  Provi- 
dence has  cast  our  lot  together,  by  extending  over  us  an 
identity  of  pursuits,  interests  and  institutions.  South  Car- 
olina, desires  no  destin}^  separated  from  yours.  To  be  one 
of  a  great  Slaveholding  Confederacy,  stretching  its  arms 
over  a  territor}-  larger  than  any  power  in  Europe  pos- 
sesses— Avitli  a  population,  four  times  greater  than  that  of 
the  whole  United  States,  when  they  achieved  their  inde- 
pendence of  the  British  Empire — with  productions,  which 
make  our  existence  more  impoi-tant  to  the  world,  than  that 
of  any  other  people  inhabiting  it — with  common  institu- 
tions to  defend,  and  common  dangers  to  encounter — we 
ask  your  sympathy  and  confederation.  "Whilst  constituting 
a  portion  of  the  United  States,  it  has  been  your  statesman- 
ship which  has  guided  it,  in  its  mighty  strides  to  power  and 
expansion.  In  the  tield,  as  in  the  cal)inet,  jjou  have  led  the 
Avay  to  its  renown  and  grandeur.  You  have  loved  the 
Union,  in  whose  service  your  great  statesmen  have  labored, 
and  your  great  soldiers  have  fought  and  conquered — not 
for  the  material  benefits  it  conferred,  but  with  the  faith  of 
a  generous  and  devoted  chivalry.  You  have  long  lingered 
in  hope  over  the  shattered  remains  of  a  broken  Consti- 
tution. Compromise  after  compromise,  formed  by  your 
concessions,  has  been  trampled  under  foot,  b}'  your  North- 
ern confederates.  All  fraternity  of  feeling  between  the 
North  and  the  South  is  lost,  or  has  been  converted  into 
hate  ;  and  wo,  of  the  South,  arc  at  last  driven  together,  by 
the  stern  destiny  which  controls  the  existence  of  nations. 
Your  bitter  experience,  of  the  faithlessness  and  rapacity  of 
your  Northern  c(nifederates,  may  have  been  necessary,  to 
evolve  those  great  principles  of  free  government,  upon 
which  the  liberties  of  the  world  depend,  and  to  prepare 
you  for  the  grand  mission  of  vindicating  and  re-establish- 


16 

ing  them.  We  rejoice,  that  other  luitions  should  be  sat- 
isfied with  their  iustitiitions.  Contentment,  is  a  great 
element  of  happiness,  with  nations  as  with  individuals. 
We,  are  satisfied  with  ours.  If  they  prefer  a  system  of 
industry,  in  which  capital  and  labor  are  in  perpetual  con- 
flict— and  chronic  starvation  keeps  down  the  natural 
increase  of  population — and  a  man  is  worked  out  in  eight 
years — and  the  law  ordains,  that  children  shall  be  worked 
only  ten  hours  a  day — and  the  sabre  and  bayonet  are  the 
instruments  of  order — be  it  so.  It  is  their  affair,  not  ours. 
We  prefer,  however,  our  system  of  industry,  by  which 
labor  and  capital  are  identified  in  interest,  and  capital, 
therefore,  protects  labor — by  which  our  population  doubles 
every  twenty  years — by  which  starvation  is  unknown, 
and  abundance  crowns  the  land — by  which  order  is  pre- 
served by  an  unpaid  police,  and  many  fertile  regions  of 
the  world,  where  the  white  man  cannot  labor,  are  brought 
into  usefulness,  b}^  the  labor  of  the  African,  and  the  whole 
world  is  blessed  by  our  productions.  All  we  demand 
of  other  peoples  is,  to  be  let  alone,  to  work  out  our  own 
high  destinies.  United  together,  and  we  must  be  the  most 
independent,  as  we  are  among  the  most  important,  of  the 
nations  of  the  world.  United  together,  and  we  require  no 
other  instrument  to  conquer  peace,  than  our  beneficent  pro- 
ductions. United  together,  and  we  must  be  a  great,  free 
and  prosperous  people,  whose  renown  must  spread  through- 
out the  civilized  world,  and  pass  down,  we  trust,  to  the 
remotest  ages.  We  ask  you  to  join  us,  in  forming  a  Con- 
federacy of  Slaveholding  States. 


